"Israel to build 300 units in Jewish settlement; East Jerusalem plan snarls effort to restart talks" by Diaa Hadid | Associated Press, May 31, 2013
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Housing Ministry said Thursday it has given the final go-ahead for the construction of 300 new homes in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, complicating the mission of Secretary of State John Kerry to renew Mideast peace talks.
This after he took their position in trying to get talks going. Thus once again Israel craps in the face of whichever US official is relegated to the region.
The announcement came less than a week after Kerry urged Israel to avoid ‘‘provocative’’ actions during a visit to the region. A US State Department spokeswoman described the move as ‘‘counterproductive.’’
It is Israel's way of signaling to you WHO really runs the SHOW over here.
Palestinian officials immediately accused Israel of undermining the US mediation efforts....
The issue of Jewish settlements has been at the heart of a nearly five-year impasse in peace efforts. Negotiations broke down in late 2008 and have remained stalled.
The Palestinians say they will not return to negotiations until Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas they claim for a future state. Israel, which captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war, says talks should resume without any conditions.
Israel has tried to differentiate between settlements in the West Bank, which is not part of Israel, and East Jerusalem, which it annexed and claims as part of its capital. But the international community, including the United States, does not recognize the annexation and considers both territories to be occupied.
Housing Ministry spokesman Ariel Rosenberg said the latest construction, in the Ramot area of East Jerusalem, was approved by the government long ago but in recent days, the ministry accepted a bid by a company to build the 300 housing units. He said the ministry had solicited the bids last year. Construction is expected to begin within a few months.
Ramot is a sprawling development that lies mostly in territory Israel seized in 1967. Israel considers it a neighborhood of its capital.
More than 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians say continued construction is a sign of bad faith and makes it increasingly difficult to partition the land between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
I tried to point that out with power, but I guess nobody like it. My hits are down.
Palestinian official Saeb Erekat described the construction plans as ‘‘systematic destruction’’ of Kerry’s efforts by Israeli hard-liners. The Housing Ministry is headed by the ‘‘Jewish Home,’’ a hard-line party with close ties to the Jewish settler movement.
‘‘They are settlers, working for settlers,’’ Erekat said.
Yeah, the whole government of Israel is a hard-line government no matter who is in charge. It's all Zionists!
Government spokesman Ofir Gendelman accused Palestinians of making excuses to avoid peace talks.
‘‘It is a tactic to avoid negotiations,’’ Gendelman said. ‘‘We are calling on Palestinians to return to direct negotiations immediately in order to discuss all outstanding issues,’’ he said.
What you need to understand is whenever Israel hurls accusations at someone else it is really describing its own behavior. Every one of you reading this knows people in your lives who are like that. We usually call them hypocrites.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki chided Israel.
And now Obama is mired in scandal.
‘‘Israelis must recognize that continued construction in East Jerusalem is counterproductive to the cause of peace and that an independent Palestine must be viable, with real borders that have to be drawn,’’ she said.
How harsh. Any sanctions coming?
‘‘We’re at a pivotal time,’’ Psaki told reporters. ‘‘We need to focus on each side making tough choices in order to move a process or the possibility of negotiations forward. And that’s what our focus is on.’’
Guess not.
Aides to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas say Kerry hopes to present a formal plan to resume long-stalled negotiations in coming weeks.
--more--"
"Kerry urges Israel, Palestine to find a way back to peace talks" by Michael R. Gordon and Isabel Kershner | New York Times Syndicate
TEL AVIV, Israel — Secretary of State John Kerry, at a news conference at Ben Gurion International Airport after wrapping up a day and a half of meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said still no breakthrough....
Israeli authorities did approve plans this month for 296 new homes in a West Bank settlement.
That is separate from the Jerusalem settlements.
They were part of an agreement reached in 2012 with the settlers, after 30 families were evacuated by court order from five buildings that had been illegally constructed on private Palestinian land. The Israeli government also submitted a response to a Supreme Court petition by Peace Now, an anti-settlement advocacy group, in which the government declared its intention to legalize retroactively four settler outposts that were built without permission.
Kerry raised the issue of the four outposts by phone with Netanyahu, said an Israeli official, who argued that the timing was dictated by the courts.
Not when he was meeting him? Where was he off to now?
The Obama administration has been careful not to make public demands for a freeze in settlement construction, a policy that backfired last time around. Kerry said that the United States was opposed to settlement construction and the legalization of outposts, but he said that the goal was “to get to talks without preconditions,” and that if an agreement on borders was eventually reached, the settlement issue would resolve itself.
Related: Israel Intends to Keep All Settlements
Well, there are preconditions, and then there are preconditions.
The Israeli official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing diplomacy, welcomed Kerry’s call for direct talks without preconditions, which reflects Israel’s own position....
As I noted above in the lead comments to this post.
And that is where my print copy ended it.
Regarding Iran, Kerry was extremely critical of the decision by its Guardian Council to narrow the field of candidates for the June election to exclude moderates and women “based solely on who represents the regime’s interests.” He said that the election would hardly be one that was free and fair and that it was not likely to represent the desire of the Iranian people for change.
Iran has the most democratic of all the Persian Gulf elections, asshole. Go tell it the Saudi stooges, 'er, allies and other Sunni potentates first!
And can you imagine the reaction if anyone (other than AIPAC and Israel, of course) tried to horn in on an Amerikan election?
--more--"
Related:
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
I just wanted you to know why I'm not into this particular prison, I mean, prism these days.
"In Mideast, Kerry plays down pessimism on peace; Holds another set of meetings with leaders about talks" by Isabel Kershner | New York Times, May 24, 2013
JERUSALEM — As he embarked on another round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Thursday in an effort to revitalize the peace process, Secretary of State John F. Kerry acknowledged the doubts being expressed on both sides over his chances of success before meeting here with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu....
Kerry then traveled to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas....
He didn't make it into Gaza?
Kerry’s visit — his fourth to the area in eight weeks —is to attend a conference of the World Economic Forum on Sunday in Jordan, where top Israeli and Palestinian business leaders plan to present a statement pressing their governments to quickly return to negotiations toward a two-state solution.
The statement comes after a year of secret meetings led by Yossi Vardi, one of the founding fathers of Israel’s high-tech industry, and Munib Masri, the billionaire chairman of the Palestine Development and Investment Company. Some 300 moguls are expected to sign on.
Vardi and Masri declined to discuss the initiative, called Breaking the Impasse, which has been kept secret largely because of pressure from the Palestinian side, in which any meetings with Israelis are denounced in some circles as normalization.
“I don’t think there’s been a group like this before,” said one person familiar with the initiative, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy surrounding the group. “It’s not made up of your usual peaceniks, and it’s not made up of politicians.”
I'm tired of the insults from the war media.
--more--"
Related:
"At the forum, a group of Israeli and Palestinian corporate leaders announced a business-led initiative called ‘‘Breaking the Impasse,’’ whose aim was to pressure their respective governments to pursue negotiations. The group is led by a pair of billionaires, Israeli high-tech impresario Yossi Vardi and Palestinian ‘‘Duke of Nablus’’ Munib al-Masri, who made his first fortune in oil and gas and now runs a holding company."
Oh, the DUKE of Palestine, well. Makes you wonder why Palestinians are suffering so much.
Yup, we are all dependent on the good graces of billionaires and bankers here at the outset of the 21st century.
Of course, Kerry has been Israel's errand boy in the region, and his adoption of the Israeli position for the proposed talks is seen by me as obscene.
Related:
"In Israel there is a perception that Kerry, not Obama, holds the keys to a renewed American role in the peace process."
Kerry finally got to be president even if it's not his official title. No wonder Israel wanted him over Rice, and his global-warming inducing jet-setting obsession with the issue now makes much sense.
"Kerry is going at a precarious time.... trying to avoid raising expectations unrealistically, [it] isn’t the start of a new era of shuttle diplomacy, a concept that got its start with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during his travels back-and-forth to end the 1973 Mideast War and secure peace between Israel and some of its neighbors. Similar efforts took place under James A. Baker III, Warren Christopher, and Condoleezza Rice. But it marks a shift after President Obama largely kept the Arab-Israeli conflict at arm’s length during his first term.... Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton presented no grand peace plan and failed to produce any sustained, high-level diplomacy between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The last significant talks occurred when President George W. Bush brought leaders to Maryland with the goal of a treaty by the end of 2008."
And then Israel engaged in Operation Cast Lead.
And Kerry as Kissinger?
"On his third trip to Jerusalem in the last two weeks, Kerry committed himself to a multimonth peace push that could mean numerous follow-up trips to the region.... Kerry, however, is seeking new conditions to sweeten the deal for Israel"
It's Kerry's cause, and I suppose taking their position would do it!
And excuse me, sir, but HOW MANY GLOBAL WARMING GASES will you be SPEWING in your TRAVELS?
"In Jerusalem, Kerry had said that all options remained regarding Iran and that “President Obama doesn’t bluff; he’s made that very clear to me. And we hope the Iranians will come back to the table with a very serious proposal.” Still, the focus of Kerry’s trip to Israel and the West Bank is on finding a way to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations."
And yet there he is dissuading the Turkish dictator Erdogan from going to Gaza, although that might not be a bad place to exile him. Heck, might even get the siege and sanctions lifted! As for the rest, the trip was about Syria and Iran, not about peace with Palestinians. He's taking orders from them!
"As part of his effort, Kerry has been pushing Arab leaders to embrace a modified version of the Arab peace plan. The changes are meant to win Israeli support."
He took their position as noted above.
Day before:
"Settlers retaliated by stoning Palestinian cars and torching farmland around Yitzhar, the police and Palestinians said. Settlers set fire to olive groves in the villages of Asira al-Qibliya and Urif, near Nablus, where a mosque was damaged in an attempt to set it on fire, Palestinians reported. Seven girls on a school trip were hurt when two buses were pelted with stones, Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official, told the Palestinian news agency Maan.... In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike killed an Islamist militant."
Happens far more often than as is reported in my jewspaper, and is more than criminal; it is a spiritual assault on Palestinians, for olives are a difficult and time-consuming crop.
Of course the photograph is of a grieving Jewish zettler -- and the dead Palestinian is always an Islamist militant.
Oh, and about that Israeli support:
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior coalition partner says that reaching a final peace agreement with the Palestinians is unrealistic at the current time and the sides should instead pursue an interim arrangement. Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s assessment, delivered in a published interview Sunday just days before the arrival of Secretary of State John F. Kerry, throws a contentious idea into the mix as the United States searches for ways to restart peace talks.... As a gesture to the Israelis, he called on Obama to endorse the position laid out by President George W. Bush in 2004, allowing Israel to keep some of the Jewish settlements it has built on occupied lands."
Yeah, but it is the Palestinians who are prevented talks. And NO PRECONDITIONS!
And about those settlements:
"Israeli settlements in West Bank called illegal by UN panel" by Nick Cumming-Bruce and Isabel Kershner | New York Times, February 01, 2013
GENEVA — Israel has pursued a creeping annexation of the Palestinian territories through the creation of Jewish settlements and committed multiple violations of international law, possibly including war crimes, a United Nations panel said Thursday, calling for an immediate halt to all settlement activity and the withdrawal of all settlers.
Israel ignores it and expands settlements, and the U.N. does nothing. We understand the hierarchy there now.
Presenting their findings in Geneva after a nearly six-month inquiry for the UN Human Rights Council, a panel of three judges, led by Christine Chanet of France, said Israel’s settlements had clearly violated the Geneva Conventions....
Asked if Israel’s actions constituted war crimes, Chanet replied that its offenses fell under Article 8 of the International Criminal Court statute.
‘‘Article 8 of the ICC statute is in the chapter of war crimes,’’ she said at a news conference. ‘‘That is the answer.’’
LET the TRIALS BEGIN! Start handing out the arrest orders!
Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as ‘‘counterproductive and unfortunate’’ and said it provided a reminder of the Human Rights Council’s ‘‘systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel.’’
Wa, wa, wa!
**************************
Israel refused to cooperate with the investigators, who as a result were unable to visit the West Bank....
The council’s decision in March to investigate the effect of Jewish settlements on Palestinian rights prompted Israel to break off cooperation with the council, castigating it as a political platform used ‘‘to bash and demonize Israel.’’
We are tired of the crying, complaining, and whining.
The panel’s report came two days after Israel boycotted a council review of its human rights record, becoming the first country to withhold cooperation from a process in which all 193 UN member states have previously engaged.
Then expel them from the U.N.
The United States has called Israel’s settlement policy unhelpful and an obstacle to achieving a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.
But it also opposed the creation of the fact-finding mission, saying at the time that it was an example of the council’s bias against Israel, that it did not ‘‘advance the cause of peace,’’ and that it would ‘‘distract the parties from efforts to resolve the issues that divide them.’’
No mention of Jewish war crimes.
--more--"
Wanna bone?
"West Bank building apparently on hold" by Daniel Estrin | Associated Press, May 08, 2013
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stopped approving new construction in West Bank settlements, two prominent Israeli activist groups said Tuesday, in what could be an attempt to clear the way for renewed peace talks with the Palestinians.
The antisettlement group Peace Now, which monitors all new Israeli settlement construction, said Netanyahu has not approved new tenders or announcements of new building plans in the settlements since he won a new term in January elections.
‘‘It seems that Netanyahu took it upon himself to follow a policy of restraint,’’ Peace Now said in a statement.
It said Netanyahu was probably trying to avoid colliding with the United States at a time when Secretary of State John Kerry is attempting to restart peace negotiations.
The group said it did not know how long the freeze on new settlement building would hold, and noted that previously started settlement building is proceeding.
The Yesha settlers council, which promotes settlement construction, also said a freeze was in place.
I'm sick of the semantics, word games, and mixed messages of deception in my mouthpiece media, how 'bout you?
Yigal Dilmoni, a Yesha official, said Netanyahu’s office confirmed to him that the prime minister has stopped approving housing tenders.
Peace talks broke down in 2008 and have remained stalled in large part because of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
--more--"
"Israeli settlers evacuated from West Bank outpost" by Joel Greenberg | Washington Post, September 03, 2012
MIGRON, West Bank — Under court order on Sunday, Israel evacuated one of the largest unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, moving to dismantle what had become a symbol of efforts by Jewish settlers to seize land without government approval.
Migron, considered the flagship of about 100 wildcat outposts built by settlers on West Bank hills, was ordered removed by the Israeli Supreme Court because it was built without official permits on land privately owned by Palestinians.
After years of legal wrangling and repeated delays by the government, the hilltop community of about 50 religious families living in mobile homes was emptied with virtually no resistance from the settlers, other than a few holdouts who had to be carried off by police.
No resistance, but.... (long sigh)
By day’s end nearly all of the 300 residents had left the site, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, after being served with eviction orders. They traveled to temporary quarters at a neighboring settlement and are to move later this month into prefabricated homes built for them on a hillside about a mile away from their original location.
After several postponements of the evacuation, the government had tried to delay it for another three years under a compromise negotiated with the settlers, but it was compelled to act by a new court-imposed deadline.
‘‘We are committed to the rule of law,’’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared after the outpost was emptied. ‘‘We are honoring the court’s rulings and we are also strengthening settlement. There is no contradiction between the two.’’
Along with the alternative housing for the Migron settlers, Netanyahu has pledged to build hundreds of housing units in West Bank settlements to offset the court-ordered evacuation in June of five apartment houses built on private Palestinian land in the settlement of Beit El.
Then the law means nothing.
Israeli settlement expansion on land the Palestinians seek for a future state has been at the core of the current impasse in peace efforts. The Palestinians say they will not resume peace talks without a halt to the construction, a matter Israel says should be resolved in negotiations.
--more--"
"Donors are urged to aid West Bank" September 21, 2012
JERUSALEM — A fiscal crisis facing the Palestinian Authority will deepen unless foreign donors increase their support and Israel lifts a web of restrictions in the West Bank that hinder private investment needed to drive economic growth, the World Bank said in a report.
Issued ahead of a meeting of donor nations next week in New York, the report follows a recent wave of protests in the West Bank set off by increases in the price of fuel and other basic goods. The protests unsettled the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and is struggling to pay salaries because of a shortfall in foreign aid, particularly from Arab states....
The report says the crisis will probably worsen, with the Palestinian Authority facing a projected $1.5 billion deficit by the end of the year and with only $1.14 billion in donor pledges to close the gap.
The Palestinian Authority is largely dependent on foreign aid, most of it from the United States, the European Union, and Arab countries.
Even with financial support, the report warns, sustainable Palestinian economic growth will be impeded unless Israel lifts physical and administrative restrictions in the 61 percent of the West Bank under its direct control, known as Area C.
The area, where Israeli settlements are located, holds most of the West Bank’s water, farmland, natural resources, and land reserves, according to the report.
What, you thought the Israeli's were going to steal dry desert instead?
--more--"
Issued ahead of a meeting of donor nations next week in New York, the report follows a recent wave of protests in the West Bank set off by increases in the price of fuel and other basic goods. The protests unsettled the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and is struggling to pay salaries because of a shortfall in foreign aid, particularly from Arab states....
The report says the crisis will probably worsen, with the Palestinian Authority facing a projected $1.5 billion deficit by the end of the year and with only $1.14 billion in donor pledges to close the gap.
The Palestinian Authority is largely dependent on foreign aid, most of it from the United States, the European Union, and Arab countries.
Even with financial support, the report warns, sustainable Palestinian economic growth will be impeded unless Israel lifts physical and administrative restrictions in the 61 percent of the West Bank under its direct control, known as Area C.
The area, where Israeli settlements are located, holds most of the West Bank’s water, farmland, natural resources, and land reserves, according to the report.
What, you thought the Israeli's were going to steal dry desert instead?
--more--"
Israel plans 1,200 new settler homes
You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out, you do the jookey-pookey and you shake it all about.
"Israel approves new settlements" Associated Press, November 30, 2012
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel approved the construction of 3,000 homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, a government official said Friday, in what appeared to be a defiant response to the Palestinians’ successful United Nations recognition bid.
The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to accept ‘‘Palestine’’ in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as a non-member observer state, setting off jubilant celebrations among Palestinians.
Israel fiercely objected to the U.N. upgrade, saying peace could only come from direct negotiations and unilateral moves would harm that prospect. The Palestinians said U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war was an attempt to salvage a possible peace deal. They said Israel’s settlement expansion on war-won land was making a partition deal increasingly difficult.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to negotiate with Israeli while settlement construction continues in occupied territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said negotiations must begin without preconditions.
The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly, said Israel also decided to begin preliminary work in other areas of the West Bank, including the charged E-1 corridor that connects Jerusalem with the settlement bloc of Maaleh Adumim. Construction there would place a major obstacle for Palestinian statehood by cutting off east Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the Israeli announcement, saying Israel was ‘‘defying the whole international community and insisting on destroying the two-state solution.’’
He said the Palestinian leadership was studying its options.
--more--"
You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out, you do the jookey-pookey and you shake it all about.
"Israel approves new settlements" Associated Press, November 30, 2012
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel approved the construction of 3,000 homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, a government official said Friday, in what appeared to be a defiant response to the Palestinians’ successful United Nations recognition bid.
The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to accept ‘‘Palestine’’ in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as a non-member observer state, setting off jubilant celebrations among Palestinians.
Israel fiercely objected to the U.N. upgrade, saying peace could only come from direct negotiations and unilateral moves would harm that prospect. The Palestinians said U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war was an attempt to salvage a possible peace deal. They said Israel’s settlement expansion on war-won land was making a partition deal increasingly difficult.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to negotiate with Israeli while settlement construction continues in occupied territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said negotiations must begin without preconditions.
The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly, said Israel also decided to begin preliminary work in other areas of the West Bank, including the charged E-1 corridor that connects Jerusalem with the settlement bloc of Maaleh Adumim. Construction there would place a major obstacle for Palestinian statehood by cutting off east Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the Israeli announcement, saying Israel was ‘‘defying the whole international community and insisting on destroying the two-state solution.’’
He said the Palestinian leadership was studying its options.
--more--"
JERUSALEM — Danny Seidemann, a lawyer for Ir Amim, an Israeli group that supports coexistence in Jerusalem, said construction did not appear imminent and the Israeli announcement contained ‘‘quite a lot of drama.’’
‘‘There’s an element of sticking it to the Palestinians,’’ he said, adding that plans in E-1 were not only a slap to the Palestinians but to the Americans who oppose them too. ‘‘E-1 is the Judgment Day weapon,’’ he said of the strategic impact of construction in that area.
They must have something on American officials because a superpower wouldn't take that s***.
Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, called the Israeli decision ‘‘collective punishment’’ and called on Israel to retract its move.
That's a war crime.
‘‘Israel should have understood by now that such behavior . . . will no longer be tolerated by the international community,’’ the group’s executive director, Haim Erlich said....
And yet there they are tolerating it.
--more--"
‘‘There’s an element of sticking it to the Palestinians,’’ he said, adding that plans in E-1 were not only a slap to the Palestinians but to the Americans who oppose them too. ‘‘E-1 is the Judgment Day weapon,’’ he said of the strategic impact of construction in that area.
They must have something on American officials because a superpower wouldn't take that s***.
Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, called the Israeli decision ‘‘collective punishment’’ and called on Israel to retract its move.
That's a war crime.
‘‘Israel should have understood by now that such behavior . . . will no longer be tolerated by the international community,’’ the group’s executive director, Haim Erlich said....
And yet there they are tolerating it.
--more--"
Israel showed no signs of bending.
"Israel must not dismiss outrage over settlements" by James Carroll | Globe Columnist, December 10, 2012
The Czech Republic was the only European country to vote with Israel....
One forgets what these Israeli settlements are: a betrayal of trust and a pillar of an inhumane occupation.
Palestinian suffering has been far too little noted. If the world now concludes that Israel has always only given lip service to the peace process while deliberately undermining it — embracing the goal of two states, while callously destroying what one state needs — the moral and political damage to the Jewish state will surpass anything a perceived Palestinian enemy could have done. Netanyahu’s E-1 expansion invites just such a conclusion.
So what is to be done?
Dissolve the state of Israel and send 'em home.
Dissolve the state of Israel and send 'em home.
***********
The American public, which has resolutely supported Israel, should find ways to be heard on this question. Religious groups, editorial writers, dinner party conversationalists, participants in university seminars, and office holders — voices must be raised.
I think I am.
I think I am.
President Obama came into office four years ago insisting that Israel’s settlement expansions across the pre-1967 borders must stop. This is the heart of the matter now. More than ever, the president must say so, to rescue justice for Palestine and preserve Israel’s standing in the world.
Oh, that's his job.
Oh, that's his job.
--more--"
"EU warns Israel to back off West Bank" by Don Melvin | Associated Press, December 11, 2012
BRUSSELS — The European Union warned Israel of unspecified consequences Monday if it goes through with plans to build thousands of new settler homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
We call it any empty threat.
We call it any empty threat.
The bloc’s 27 foreign ministers said they were deeply dismayed by Israeli plans to expand settlements in East Jerusalem and particularly the E1 project, which would separate the West Bank from East Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital, and drive a big wedge between the northern and southern flanks of the West Bank....
The EU views any Israeli settlements on territory occupied during the 1967 Mideast war as a breach of international law.
The new settlement plans have drawn widespread international condemnation, with the United States also urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to call off the plans.
The Israeli government reacted by calling the EU focus mistaken.
‘‘Facts and history both prove that Jewish settlement never constituted an obstacle to peace,’’ said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. ‘‘Therefore, the EU’s focus on this issue is mistaken.’’
Netanyahu also decried what he saw as a double standard.
‘‘We cannot accept that when Jews build homes in their ancient capital, Jerusalem, the international community has no problem finding its voice, but when Palestinian leaders openly call for the destruction of Israel, the one and only Jewish state, the world is silent,’’ Netanyahu said Monday.
UNREAL!
But Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Europe’s political view of the Mideast had changed profoundly since Israel announced plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
I guess that's why I keep seeing articles in my paper about European fascism on the rise. Sorry, but that Jewish agenda has been played long ago and is so old -- especially when the accepted version of fascists now dominate and occupy the USraeli Empire and its governments.
I guess that's why I keep seeing articles in my paper about European fascism on the rise. Sorry, but that Jewish agenda has been played long ago and is so old -- especially when the accepted version of fascists now dominate and occupy the USraeli Empire and its governments.
Bildt, speaking as ministers gathered for Monday’s meeting, said the Israeli plans had caused extreme concern in Europe. ‘‘What the Israelis did on E1 has shifted opinions in Europe,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t think the Israelis are aware of this.’’
No, I don't think they are, either. Psychopaths rarely are.
No, I don't think they are, either. Psychopaths rarely are.
Some advocacy groups want the EU to prohibit the sale of goods made by Israeli settlers from being labeled as made in Israel. The labeling issue may come up but was not officially on the agenda. In Oslo on Monday, the European Union accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize capital for promoting peace and human rights in Europe for six decades after the devastation of World War II. The ceremony was attended by Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, Herman Van Rompuy, president of the EU Council, and Martin Schulz, president of the EU Parliament.
Proving how worthless those awards are now. Obomber got one, Gandhi didn't. Case closed.
Of course, outside Europe EU forces in the form of nations slaughtered plenty of people, particularly in Africa.
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Proving how worthless those awards are now. Obomber got one, Gandhi didn't. Case closed.
Of course, outside Europe EU forces in the form of nations slaughtered plenty of people, particularly in Africa.
--more--"
"Israel seeks to invest in contested West Bank sites" Associated Press, January 15, 2013
JERUSALEM — Israel is advancing a plan to invest in places it considers part of its national heritage, including nine West Bank sites, the government said Monday in an announcement that could appeal to hard-line voters a week ahead of elections. It triggered an angry Palestinian response.
Do I have to comment anymore?
Do I have to comment anymore?
Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser said Israel is adding handicapped access to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a sensitive site in the West Bank city of Hebron sacred to both Jews and Muslims.
The United States objected to Israel’s initial 2010 announcement that it would label the shrine an Israeli heritage site, charging that it impeded peace efforts. Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli troops in Hebron then, and President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine warned the move could spark a religious war.
That's what Israel wants.
That's what Israel wants.
Nour Odeh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Authority, called on the international community to condemn the latest Israeli announcement. ‘‘The Tomb of the Patriarchs is a Palestinian site, and the Palestinian Authority is the only one in charge of making any changes to it,’’ Odeh said.
Also Monday, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Ban is reiterating his call for Israel to rescind its settlement plans in the strategic E1 area of the West Bank. A UN spokesman said the UN chief is concerned about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge Sunday to move ahead with construction of a Jewish settlement in the E1 area.
Cut off aid to Israel then.
Cut off aid to Israel then.
The new settlement would deepen East Jerusalem’s separation from the West Bank.
With elections set for next week, Netanyahu appears likely to win another term, but his party has been losing seats to a hard-line religious-nationalist faction. The timing of the announcement on the heritage sites suggests that he is trying to win back hawkish voters.
Actually, we were told it went the other way.
Actually, we were told it went the other way.
--more--"
"Group chides Israeli growth; Says Netanyahu undercuts plans for two-state deal" by Karin Laub | Associated Press, January 17, 2013
JERUSALEM — A review of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s settlement policies shows a clear intent to prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state by stepping up construction in strategic areas, an Israeli antisettlement group said Wednesday.
Which is great; however, there are plenty of non-Jewish groups on the issue that never get a mention in my jewspaper.
Which is great; however, there are plenty of non-Jewish groups on the issue that never get a mention in my jewspaper.
During Netanyahu’s four-year term, 38 percent of nearly 6,900 West Bank construction starts were reported in settlements deep inside the territory, compared to 20 percent under his predecessors, the Peace Now group said.
The report by the watchdog was released a week before Israel’s parliamentary elections on Jan. 22. Netanyahu appears poised to win another four year term, polls show.
According to the report, the government also issued bids for 5,302 settlement apartments in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and advanced planning for thousands more, the group said. The group’s findings were based on aerial photos, field visits, and official reports.
The latest bids were issued on Tuesday, when the government asked developers to compete to build 84 apartments in Kiryat Arba, a settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron, and 114 in Efrat, a major settlement south of Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, for a future state.
Israel still occupies the West Bank and East Jerusalem and while it withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza, it controls most access to the coastal territory, now ruled by Hamas.
Netanyahu has said he is willing to negotiate the borders of a Palestinian state but wants to keep East Jerusalem — which Palestinians want as their capital — and chunks of the West Bank.
But no preconditions.
Netanyahu has rejected a Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze during negotiations; talks have been on hold for four years.
But no preconditi.... SIGH! Can't talk to these people, and that's exactly what they want as they steal more land.
But no preconditions.
Netanyahu has rejected a Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze during negotiations; talks have been on hold for four years.
But no preconditi.... SIGH! Can't talk to these people, and that's exactly what they want as they steal more land.
Peace Now concluded that Netanyahu’s policies in his first term ‘‘disclose a clear intention to use settlements to systematically undermine and render impossible a realistic, viable two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.’’
Yeah, it is NO SECRET to SAY IT, and not anti-semitic either! It's the truth!
Yeah, it is NO SECRET to SAY IT, and not anti-semitic either! It's the truth!
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev denied the government is trying to undermine prospects for Palestinian statehood through settlement expansion.
There should be a law against settlement denial.
There should be a law against settlement denial.
Israel hasn’t clearly defined settlement blocs, but they are believed to include larger settlements near Israel as well the Ariel enclave of 17,000 settlers in the heart of the West Bank. In all, about half a million Israelis live in dozens of settlements on disputed land, including 200,000 in East Jerusalem.
That might be considered a border declaration, something Israel has avoided for decades.
That might be considered a border declaration, something Israel has avoided for decades.
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